


The Wolves of the Wilds

by Dragonflies_and_Katydids



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt No Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 03:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8234954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonflies_and_Katydids/pseuds/Dragonflies_and_Katydids
Summary: Inspired by this prompt (though I didn't follow it exactly):
+ ANGST: THE PROMPTENING - Give me a doomed love affair, give me Fen'Harel tearing down the world to build Mythal a new one, give me Mythal hating what he's done but not being able to keep herself from touching him when he reappears, give me Solas' thoughts when he knives her in DAI - Give me sadness, and let me revel in it+ Mythal finds this new world suits her just fine, but Fen'Harel doesn't agree+ Mythal/Flemeth's reaction to the wolves in the Kokari wilds





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).



She keeps herself busy, filling her days with anything that doesn't allow her to think too hard about the past. The Chasind shamans are eager for her knowledge, and when they come to ask for it, they bring the right kind of offerings: food and blankets and young hands capable of fixing roofs. It allows her to trade away the mindless tasks in favor of those which keep her thoughts centered on the moment she's in right now.

It works well enough during the day, but sometimes at dusk, she looks out into the woods, and the wolves look back.

###

Her first daughter comes to her during the coldest winter the Chasind can remember.

"She has no one left," the shaman says, when he begs her to take the baby. "Most of her kin died last year, and now with her mother dead..." He sighs. "I wouldn't ask it of you, but everyone is stretched too thin."

The baby is restless in her bundle of furs, fussing irritably. It's hard not to smile. "How did her mother die?"

"She went hunting," the shaman says. "And, well, the wolves are hungry this year."

Her smile dies. "The wolves are always hungry."

###

The baby becomes a girl and then a woman in an eye blink, and as she grows, she proves herself quick and curious, eager to learn everything all at once. It's glorious, and infuriating, and terrifying.

In the evenings, she watches the wolves with curious eyes untroubled by any history. Wolves are only something new for her to learn, the same as everything else, and too soon, she learns to take their form and run with them.

After that, the wolf always shines from her eyes, a constant reminder that wherever she sleeps, she's been stolen away like everything else.

###

The Chasind give her more daughters over the years, sometimes of her body and sometimes not. She loves them, but distantly, aware of how little time she'll have before they're taken from her. Those without the spark of magic return to the tribes eventually, and the wolves steal the rest, calling to them night after night until they follow that call into the darkness.

They return to her, but never completely, and when they return, they bring the wolves with them.

In the dim light of dusk each night, she looks out at the golden eyes staring back and remembers.

###

When the knife goes in, it's almost a relief. The waiting and worrying and wondering are done, ended with everything else. He'll try again to burn the world down, but at least this time, it won't be for her.

She won't have to watch, knowing he means it as a gift, and she won't have to hate herself for accepting it.

She'll have no more daughters for the wolves to steal away, and she'll never again see his eyes reflected in someone else's.

She'll never again see his eyes at all.

Relief, it turns out, feels very much like grief.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] The Wolves of the Wilds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14155680) by [KeeperofSeeds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeeperofSeeds/pseuds/KeeperofSeeds)




End file.
